ISO 50001:2018 Transition Guidance for Clients

Transition guidance plan

NQA considers ISO 50001:2018 to be a significant development primarily due to changes in structure, and the introduction of additional concepts and themes.

It is our goal to ensure that we perform value added audits that establish an organization’s level of conformity to the standard and in doing so, help our clients understand both the intent and the philosophy behind the changes.

NQA’s philosophy is to maintain a simplistic transition approach that is easy for our clients to comprehend and apply. Our goal is to provide you with the guidance and tools to make the transition from ISO 50001:2011 to ISO 50001:2018 as smooth and cost-free as possible.

Step 1: Transition Guidelines - ISO 50001:2018

The International Accreditation Forum (IAF) has stated that organizations will have 3 years from the date of the standards publication to transition their EnMS to become compliant to the new standard.

All current existing certificates to ISO 50001:2011 will expire three years after release and publication of ISO 50001:2018.

Transition from ISO 50001:2011 to ISO 50001:2018 may be accomplished during a single visit. A minimum of one day additional time shall be added to the duration to effectively evaluate the changes and effectiveness of implementation. Based on IAF MD-21:2018 – issue 1.

If a client’s ISO 50001:2011 certificate expires before they are able to fully transition to the ISO 50001:2018 standard, they may be re-registered to ISO 50001:2011 (subject to a cut-off period to allow for subsequent transition).

The expiration date of this re-registered certificate will be within the three year anniversary of the release of ISO 50001:2018.

A new certificate to the 2018 version will be issued when it can be satisfactorily shown that a client has fully met the requirements of the new standard. As is the current practice, all major non-conformities must be formally closed out and corrective actions for any minor non-conformances must be received and accepted by NQA, prior to issuance of a certificate.

Prior to the Transition Audit being undertaken, clients are required to complete the NQA ISO 50001:2018 Gap Analysis Document. Clients are also encouraged to complete an internal audit and management review against the new standard, as this exercise serves both to ensure that all requirements have been addressed in the management system and to provide easy reference to these requirements during the transition audit.

As a minimum, the client must have completed a formal gap analysis using the document mentioned above and reviewed the output with Top Management at management review or an equivalent mechanism.

Step 2: Your transition process

Based on the three-year transition timeline, we have developed the following transition process for organizations that currently have a registered ISO 50001:2011 system with NQA:

TRANSITION AT ANNUAL AUDIT

Transitions will be conducted at the time of annual surveillance or recertification audit.

Additional mandatory time will be added to the audit duration in order to allow the completion of a full and effective transition assessment against the new standard requirements.

The additional time will be a minimum of one day. Additional time will be determined according to unique criteria of the organization. This will be determined by NQA. To find out your specific transition audit duration please talk to a member of the NQA team.

If successful, NQA will issue a new certificate with the valid until date (VUD):

At a surveillance audit - this will reflect the previous certificate.

At a re-certification audit – this will reset the three year certification cycle

In the circumstance where the three year certification cycle has been restricted by the end of the transition period, and the transition has taken place during a surveillance audit, the VUD date will be reset to three years from the date of the previous reassessment or initial certificate VUD.

Please note: At the point of scheduling your transition audit you will be informed of the additional days required and therefore the audit duration and cost. This will be determined by NQA and applies to all organizations.

Step 3: Inform NQA

We need to know when you wish to transition from ISO 50001:2011 to ISO 50001:2018. Please help us to plan your forthcoming transition audit by informing us of your decision.

Step 4: Gap analysis tool

The new concepts introduced in ISO 50001:2018 and the related clauses, processes and functional activities

The new and amended clauses between ISO 50001:2011 and ISO 50001:2018

Please complete each table by recording the evidence acquired from one full internal audit against the requirements of ISO 50001:2018. Complete all sections prior to your transition assessment and ensure it is available for your assessor at the opening meeting.